Vascular and Nonvascular Complications of Liver Transplants: Sonographic Evaluation and Correlation with Other Imaging Modalities and Findings at Surgery and Pathology

Liver transplantation is performed in adults and children to treat patients with irreversible liver damage when medical or other surgical treatment has failed. The most common indications for transplantation are cirrhosis secondary to fulminant acute hepatitis or chronic active hepatitis, sclerosing cholangitis, primary biliary cirrhosis, Budd-Chiari syndrome, inborn errors of metabolism, and unresectable but local hepatocellular carcinoma. This article reviews the sonographic findings in the preoperative evaluation of liver transplant recipients, briefly describes the surgical technique, and demonstrates normal postoperative findings in liver transplant recipients as well as complications associated with liver transplantation.